Rethinking The Police Academy
A special series about how Nashville trains its police officers — and who gets left out
Recent shootings by police have raised questions about how officers are trained. But those conversations have mostly focused on the classes cadets take, not the environment in which they learn — or who that environment may be pushing out.
In recent years, women and people of color have graduated from Nashville’s police academy at much lower rates than white men. In “Rethinking The Police Academy,” we explore why — and how this can affect interactions between the police and the communities they serve.
Series by WPLN’s Samantha Max and APM Reports. Edited by Chas Sisk.
How we reported this story
The reporting for this series started with an analysis of demographic data from the Metro Nashville Police Department, which showed that white, male cadets had graduated from the police academy at much higher rates than women and people of color between 2011 and 2020. WPLN News and APM Reports set out to understand why. Read more.